Looking Back, Looking Sideways and Looking Forward

That's what I told the graduating students of my alma mater, USLS-IS, last week during their pre-graduation retreat. It was a moment for them to look back, look sideways and look forward. The looking back can be fun. Remembering people and places in the past is not only an exercise in memory, it is another moment of playtime in our secret chamber of memories. Fun memories. It can be sad. The sadness is brought about by the fact that it is only a visit to the realm of imagination. For others, it can be a scary experience, a re-enactment perhaps of bad and tragic experiences. But the invitation is to really stop, turn around and wave goodbye to the memories of old. I also told them to look sideways, to look around them and see the people of "here and now". For others, it can be difficult. Most of us live in a fast lane, riding on a speeding train with no time to even look out the window and enjoy the scenery outside. The invitation to look around keeps us grounded and allows us to appreciate the people in our lives who are there always, touching us, making a difference. To look ahead is natural. The future can be bright. The future can be clear. For some it is still uncertain. But we look ahead with hope.

I cannot help but look back to my own I.S. experience. At the same time look around at where I am now in my life. I have travelled a long way since then, and yet I look ahead of me and yet another long stretch of road awaits.

Last night I was also invited to the dinner party of the Pre-med students of USLS. It was there pre-med night, a night spent to give tribute to the graduating seniors of the College. I too couldn't help but reminisce about my Bio batchmates. We graduated in 2002. I haven't seen much of my batchmates since then, except of course for those who went to Med School and were also my classmates.

But no matter how far we look back or look ahead, no matter how fast or slow we look around, it is important to do all these. It allows us to survive as human beings. The exercise of remembering, evaluating and planning is nothing more than an exercise of our being rational animals. In our remembering we re-organize our thoughts, practice and upgrade our memory and account for the things we have done in the past. In evaluating, we re-assess our lives, take inventory of our skills and failures. In planning, we re-position ourselves to the direction we feel will provide justice to the things we have remembered and to the life we have just evaluated.

But of course, we cannot disregard the participation of our emotional self. It is the emotional self - others would call it, conscience - that provides direction, the inspiration, that necessary push to continue forward. It provides meaning to the substance. It is the art that makes the science beautiful.

This Holy Week, I hope God will grant me the Strength to look back, Courage to look ahead and enough Time to look around and appreciate the people in my life.